The Future Wedding
by Thedummie2
Summary: Five kids, one wedding, and a little time travel. Just your ordinary day at Atlantis. Chapter 3 up.
1. Da, Da, Dun, What?

**Dun…Dun…Da…wHaT?**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Stargate: Atlantis or its characters. BUT...Rosetta, Rebecca, Melena, Isodore, Joseph, and Harriet all belong to me.

Let the story begin!

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this, Rosetta?" asked a blonde haired, brown eyed woman as she twitched nervously in her seat. She grabbed the hem of her pink gown as she looked at her friend urgently typing in commands into a data pad.

"Rebecca's got a point, Etta," said another woman with tan skin, jade eyes, and flowing brown hair, "It's your wedding day. You should be relaxing and letting Harriet do the work."

A woman with silky black hair and blue eyes stared at the two angrily.

"Melena, you know that Harriet isn't as capable as I am with this stuff. Besides, the fact that it's my wedding makes it more important that _I_ check everything. I don't want her to ruin everything."

As Rosetta returned to her data pad, the other two glanced at each other with eyes twinkling with amusement. They both knew that Rosetta had a _slightly _arrogant streak when it came to Ancient technology. Melena was about to say something to Rebecca, but at that moment, there was a beep, and Rosetta turned to them and smiled with satisfaction.

"All systems are a go!" said Rosetta as she hurriedly sat in the copilot's seat. She tapped her earpiece.

"Hey, honey. You all right, Joseph?"

"Don't worry about me. But Isodore looks like he's gonna cry."

"You keep that up, Joseph, and I'll show you tears."

Rosetta rolled her eyes at her husband's usual antics and Isodore's oh-so-typical response. She decided to ignore them both and inform them about their status.

"Well, all systems are a go!" exclaimed Rosetta excitedly.

"That's great. See you at the wedding, hon!" exclaimed her fiancé on the other end.

Rosetta couldn't help contain a smirk as she heard Isodore say, "Look who's crying now."

"Shut up."

"Lads and lasses," exclaimed Rebecca, "can we stop with this childish bickering and get on with the excitement?"

"Right, Becky," replied Joseph.

"Ladies first," replied Rosetta.

"All right," said Rebecca as she nervously concentrated her energies on the Puddle Jumper's controls. The Puddle Jumper lifted, and with an excited smile, she dialed the Gate.

* * *

"Dr. Weir, we've got unscheduled gate activity."

Dr. Elizabeth Weir tiredly walked out of her office and into the Gate Room. She looked at the gate technician, who was staring at the screen in confusion.

"What is it?" asked Elizabeth as she leaned closer.

"It's…it's Dr. McKay's IDC, ma'am."

Elizabeth's eyes widened. She tapped her earpiece with one hand.

"Rodney, are you here?"

It took several seconds, but she finally got an answer from the irate scientist.

"Of course, Elizabeth. What makes you think I wasn't?"

Before she could reply to Rodney's incredulous question, she saw the gate technician struggling with the computer before him.

"Rodney, did you give your IDC out to anyone?" asked Elizabeth, keeping an eye on the gate technician.

"No, of course not. That goes against protocol."

"Ma'am, I can't raise the shield. Someone on the other side is opening it up."

Elizabeth put a hand over her forehead and rubbed it…hard. Someone was rewriting the macro that McKay had put into the Intergalactic Gate System. She only knew of two people who could do so: McKay, who was in Atlantis working on ANOTHER project that had nothing to do with the Intergalactic System, and Colonel Carter, who was in the SGC currently and wouldn't have done this without asking Elizabeth's express permission first. That left the Replicators.

"All right, I want you to get Colonel Sheppard and his team. I don't want to take any chances."

The Gate technician promptly nodded as Elizabeth hurriedly started to walk down the stairs to the Gate Room. She was about to call up the usual team of marines to stand by with their weapons in position when suddenly, she saw the front of a Puddle Jumper exiting the event horizon. With wide eyes, she watched as two Puddle Jumpers entered the Gate Room.

"Elizabeth? What's-?"

Elizabeth turned to see John, Rodney, Ronon, and Teyla standing behind her. John looked at the Puddle Jumper with a stunned look of surprise. Rodney stared at Elizabeth and pointed at her and the Jumper.

"I thought Lorne's team, which is the ONLY team that's off world right now, went to that planet by foot," said John.

"They did," said Rodney, whose eyes were wide with surprise.

"Dad!"

They all turned to see three young women and two men walking out of the Puddle Jumpers, which had somehow landed in the now very small Gate Room. One of the young women ran towards Ronon, who immediately raised his blaster at her. The woman stopped abruptly in her tracks with her hands raised, staring at Ronon confusedly.

"Dad, it's me, Melena."

"Liar," growled Ronon harshly, "You're not Melena."

"Melena," said a man with tan skin and hazel eyes. He was slowly walking towards the young woman. Sheppard, sensing the tension between Ronon and the young woman, tried to talk some sense to the Satedan.

"Ronon," said Sheppard calmly, "lower your gun. No need to get all worked up."

"Melena-"

Without warning, Ronon shot the woman.

"Ronon!" said Teyla as she glared at him.

Teyla was about to take the blaster away from him, but before anyone could react, there was a blur of black, and in seconds, the tan man and Ronon were on the floor, throwing punches. Neither, however, were doing a very good job at causing much harm to the other because both were successfully blocking the other's punches. Sheppard and Teyla and a man from the other group with fair skin, brown hair, and emerald eyes pulled their respective teammates off the floor.

"You bastard! What kind of a father are you, killing Melena like that!" screamed the tan man as he struggled to break free from the other man's grasp.

"She's NOT Melena!" screamed Ronon as he struggled to break free from Sheppard and Teyla's firm hold.

"Isodore, stop! She was just stunned!" said the blonde haired woman, who was holding Melena's wrist in her hand.

"I don't know what's going on, but you guys are acting as if you've never seen us before," said the fair man, who stared at Sheppard, Weir, and the others.

"Cause we haven't!" exclaimed Rodney incredulously as he stepped forward.

"Rodney?" asked the blonde haired woman incredulously as she stared at the man.

"Yes, that would be me," said Rodney irritably.

"No," whispered the fair man as he dropped the tan man's arm. The tan man let his arm fall to his side as he stared at Rodney in surprise.

"Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no."

Everyone, at that moment, turned to see the blacked haired woman with her hands over her mouth. Sheppard and the others looked at each other in confusion as the black haired woman walk towards Elizabeth.

"What year is this?"

Elizabeth, stunned at the question, stared at her curiously. It wasn't like the Atlantis crew had never met a person from the past or the future or an alternate dimension or…the list went on. The only problem was whether or not they were here for something good or something bad. Something in her gut, though, told her that these people meant no harm. She stared at the young woman before her.

"2006."

The members of the other team looked on in surprise.

"Oh, no," said the blonde haired woman as she looked up at Elizabeth with wide eyes.

"Of course, it's an "Oh, no!" Rebecca!" screamed the black haired woman, "We've traveled back in time!"

"Wait a minute," said Rodney as he walked forward, "You're telling me that you guys are from the future?"

"Yeah, Uncle Rodney, we are," said the fair man who was still looking at Rodney in awe.

"So that means…Wait, did you, did you just call me Uncle Rodney!" asked Rodney as he whirled to look at the fair man.

"Well, you're not really my 'uncle' per se, but you know, you told me to call you that. You were, after all, a good friend of my parents over there," said the fair man as he nodded towards where John and Elizabeth were standing.

"Then?" said Teyla as she carefully eyed the entire group, realizing now, for the first time, how familiar some of them looked.

"Yeah, we're your sons and daughters."


	2. Meet the Kids

**Meet the Kids**

Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate:Atlantis. Don't own Ronon (my sweet hottie), or Sheppard, or Rodney, or Weir, or Teyla. BUT I DO own Isodore, Melena, Rosetta, Rebecca, and Joseph.

Author's Notes: Thanks for all who reviewed! Letting you know right now that this story is not going to be so much action, but rather, more character development.

* * *

"They're not lying." 

The entire team looked up to see Dr. Carson Beckett walking in from the infirmary where the future team was now placed in for inspection.

"Are you sure, Carson?" asked Elizabeth as she looked at the doctor.

"Aye. Each one has a genetic code that nearly matches one of ours."

"Great. Now the entire city's gonna be talking about this," said Sheppard with an exasperated sigh.

"This isn't funny, John," said Elizabeth as she threw a sharp glance in his direction.

"Never said it was. Just saying that on top of them, we've got the rumor mill to beat."

She ignored John's comment and turned to Rodney.

"Do you think you can send them back?"

Rodney looked back, slightly annoyed.

"Of course, I can. I just need to know the meaning of life to figure it out!"

When he saw the sharp, death looks he was getting from the entire team, Rodney sighed.

"Look, I don't know. I have to know what triggered this in the first place, and then I need some materials that we may not even have yet, considering the fact that they are from the future, and then-"

"All right, Rodney. We get the point," said Sheppard as he held up a hand to silence the rambling scientist.

"So now what we do?" asked Ronon as he folded his arms defensively across his chest.

"I believe that the best thing to do is to offer as much comfort as possible until we find a possible solution to their dilemma," said Teyla.

Elizabeth nodded promptly.

"Agreed. Before then, though, let's get acquainted with our children," said Elizabeth as she got up from her seat. This was going to be _interesting._

* * *

Joseph Sheppard stretched his arms and legs as he woke up from his little nap. He rubbed his eyes and looked around the room. Isodore was sitting by his sister and stroking his sister's arm gently. Both Rebecca and her father reassured the entire team that Melena would be fine. Speaking of Rebecca, the woman was also sitting by Melena's bedside. Although Rebecca knew that Ronon only stunned Melena, Rebecca still wanted to make sure that her friend would be all right. His fiancée, Rosetta, was standing to the side, looking after Melena. Joseph walked towards her and placed an arm around her protectively. 

"You OK?"

She snorted.

"Yeah, aside from the fact that we were sent back in time and my wedding is officially ruined, yes, I'm perfectly fine."

Joseph pushed a lock of hair away from her face.

"You know what I mean."

She looked into his eyes, and then looked down at the floor.

"It's just that…seeing him after all these years…"

Joseph tightened his hold on her, letting her know that he was there for her. At that moment, they heard the door hiss open. The entire team turned around to see their parents walk through the door.

"Hello," said Dr. Weir with a small smile.

"Hi," said Joseph with a small frown. This was really uncomfortable. His mom and his dad together? Too weird.

Dr. Weir cleared her throat and looked at John, who nonchalantly shrugged. She turned back to the team.

"Well…since you all know us already, tell us who you are…or will be."

Joseph looked at them, feeling his emotions brimming to the surface. To be honest, this was probably the worst nightmare come true for most of them. None of them had great relationships with their parents, and those who did…well, something always went wrong sooner or later. The only exception to that was probably Melena, who seemed to get along really well with both of her parents. So much for that. Joseph didn't think Melena would be having such a great relationship with Ronon after the whole my-father-shot-me-with-his-really-painful-stunner incident. Joseph looked up when, to his surprise, Rebecca, the shyest of the group, spoke first.

"Hello. I'm Rebecca Beckett, and I'm the chief medical doctor at the infirmary at Atlantis. I mean, our Atlantis," said Rebecca, putting on a small smile and offering a hand. Elizabeth took the hand warmly and smiled back.

"I'm, uh, Joseph Sheppard, and I'm the chief military commander at Atlantis. This, here, is my fiancée, Rosetta Jeannie McKay, who's the chief scientist."

At that, Rodney and John stared at each other with horrified looks.

"My daughter married your son?" asked Rodney as he pointed at John.

"My son married your daughter?" said John with a more than terrified look.

Rodney was about to throw in a sarcastic retort, but he saw Elizabeth shoot a death glare at both of them. Both men turned their attention back to the team.

"Right," said Joseph, who decided to just ignore his dad's…way too creepy reaction, "Moving right along."

He turned and waved a hand towards Isodore, who was carefully looking at Ronon.

"That right there is Isodore Dex, who will act as the Athosian co-leader in a couple of weeks with his mom, and the woman on the bed is his twin sister, Melena Emmagan Dex, who trains the resident humans on Atlantis at hand to hand combat. She'll be leading the Athosian settlement on the mainland with Isodore too."

Ronon raised an eyebrow, and Joseph turned to see Teyla look at him in shock.

"Then Ronon and I are-?"

Joseph nodded.

"Yeah, you guys are married."

Noticing the stunned look on Teyla's normally calm face and the glint of amusement in Ronon's eyes, Joseph added with a smile, "Nice wedding, too. Saw the whole thing on DVD."

Elizabeth was about to say something when Joseph raised a hand and looked at her knowingly.

"You're my mom."

He saw both his father and his mother glance at each other with bewildered expressions.

"Well," said Joseph, "you guys have been introduced."

"Well, yes, I guess we have," said Rodney with a shocked look. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence between the two teams.

"Perhaps, we should show you to your quarters?" said Teyla, trying to break the awkwardness of the situation.

"And get you guys more comfortable clothes," added Elizabeth as she eyed their fancy clothing.

"Yeah, that'd be great," said Rosetta with a nod, "You guys have no idea how uncomfortable wearing this dress can be."

Teyla offered a comforting smile. John scanned their clothing adn looked at them with a raised eyebrow.

"You guys seem like you just came out of a wedding," said John.

Rosetta groaned and put a hand over her face as she got another reminder of her ruined wedding.

"Yeah, well," said Joseph with a forced smile, "wouldn't you like to know..."


	3. One Big Hug

**One Big Hug**

Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate: Atlantis. I don't own the characters of the Atlantis universe. Blah, blah, blah. You get the drift.

Author's Notes: Again, a big thanks to all those who reviewed! This chapter is my fav. Some slight Ronon angst. Very, very slight. Yeah, so you Ronon fans out there will love this (me included; well, I enjoyed writing it, I mean.).

Sigh. I love that big hunk. :)

* * *

Isodore?" asked Melena as she felt her head pounding against her skull. She opened her eyes to see Dr. Carson Beckett, aka Rebecca's father, standing before her with a small smile. 

"Hi, lass. How are you doing?"

Melena wanted to say that her head was killing her, and her chest wasn't feeling so great either. But she was a Dex, and Dexes never complain. She gave him a small smile.

"I'm fine, Uncle Carson."

"Uncle Carson…I like the sound of that."

She saw Carson smile softly as she chuckled a little.

"You're just like your father."

At the mention of her father, Melena's smile dropped. She remembered her father with a blaster and he fired it AT her. She could forgive him for the blast. He was confused. The blast didn't bother her. Hell, she dealt with situations like that in the past…just not with her father. Her father was usually kind, gentle…happy. There were times when he would be lost in his own thoughts, but he would always look up at her with a wide grin. Her father, here, though, was different. She had only caught a glimpse of him, but she could tell from his eyes that he had gone through much. The others hadn't noticed it, but she saw a shadow of pain flicker in her father's eyes before he fired the stunner at her. She snapped out of her thoughts when Carson squeezed her shoulder. She looked up to see Carson look at her worriedly.

"I'm sorry, lass, I shouldn't have mentioned-"

"No, no, it's fine. In fact, do you know where he is?"

"Actually, lass, he's been by your side since your team left. Said he felt the need to apologize."

Melena smiled slightly.

"He just left to get some food for you. He'll be back soon."

There was a small silence that stretched between the two that was soon broken by the hiss of a door. They both looked up to see Ronon with a tray of food. Carson smiled at her and patted her hand gently.

"I'll leave you two alone."

Melena smiled back. Good old Uncle Carson. No matter where she was, he always seemed to be watching over them like an elderly grandfather. He left as her father walked towards her.

"You OK?" asked Ronon as he placed the tray on the table beside her and sat on a nearby stool.

"Fine," said Melena with a nod.

"You wanna eat?" asked Ronon, nodding towards the food.

"I'm not hungry."

Ronon nodded and looked down at his folded hands. Ronon tried to think of a way to apologize to his own daughter, but stopped when he felt her hand touch his.

"It's all right. You don't have to apologize. You didn't know."

Ronon looked up at her, and his breath caught in his throat when he saw Melena with her blonde hair, fair skin, and violet blue eyes.

"Dad?"

In an instant, the image had changed, and he saw Melena, his daughter, with her jade eyes, auburn-brown hair, and dark skin, lying on the gurney.

"Right," said Ronon as he pushed the image out of his head. He got up from the chair and jerked his thumb towards the direction of the door.

"I'm gonna leave."

Ronon was about to leave when he felt her strong hand on his arm. The same arm, the same place, where _she _had touched him eight years ago...

"Please, I want to talk to you."

If it had been anyone else, he would have shrugged the hand off, but this…this was his daughter. Sensing the worry in her voice, he reluctantly sat back down, refusing to look at her. Ancestors, help him. He didn't know if he could handle this. The scars were still too fresh.

"You know. You never explained why you didn't think I was Melena. I mean, if you didn't recognize my name, I don't think you would have been as angry as you were. Shocked at me calling you dad, but not angry and hurt."

That snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked at her carefully. She was really observant.

"Don't need to," replied Ronon stoically. His full intention was to intimidate her, but instead of being intimidated, she grinned slightly.

"Father, you can't hide yourself from me. I know you as well as you know me. Something about my name bothers you."

Yep, this girl was definitely Teyla's daughter. Like her mother, Melena could read through people, and she knew the heart of the problem. She was tactful and very skilled in the art of persuasion. But the girl's persistence? That stubborn attitude definitely came from his former wife. In a sense, his daughter was a mixture of the two women.

"Father."

He looked up at her concerned face and looked back down at his intertwined fingers. He heard the slight pleading tone in her voice, and for some odd reason, he didn't fight back; he knew that he wouldn't get out of here without telling her. He closed his eyes and opened them again, staring intensely at one spot on the floor below.

"Melena was my first wife."

Without looking up, he could tell that he had her full attention. It made him uncomfortable.

"She worked as a nurse on Sateda. During the last culling, she had a chance to go through the Gate, but she refused, saying she had to help all those people who were dying in the hospital."

Ronon paused, replaying that scene in his mind. If only he'd grabbed her or forced her to go, then maybe…He shoved the thoughts aside, realizing that he couldn't ponder over "what ifs" and "maybes." Ronon took a deep breath, remembering the smell of smoke and death surrounding him. His comrades and his family…gone. His people dying by the hundreds. The earsplitting screams. He took in a deep, silent breath, trying to calm himself, trying to do anything but remember.

"How'd she die?"

He paused, wondering if this was really the time to be saying such things. It didn't matter. He had started, and he had to finish. He swallowed hard.

"There was a blast. She was standing in front of the window and the flames…"

He stopped, not wanting to continue. He closed his eyes, trying to stop the images from resurfacing, from engulfing him. He felt a small hand tightly squeezing his, and he looked up at his daughter. For a moment, they stayed like that: both staring at each other intently and holding their hands tightly. Before he knew what happened, she had reached over and embraced him tightly. He sat there, too stunned. With hesitation, he embraced her back.

"You can let go now," whispered Melena gently. Somehow, he knew that she wasn't referring to the tight embrace that he was holding her in. Ronon tried to keep the tears in, mentally reprimanding himself. He was a Satedan warrior. He wasn't supposed to show weakness. He was supposed to be strong and stoic and…

"It's OK," she whispered in her gentle voice, and something in Ronon's head told him that she was right—that it was finally OK to let them go. So, he let the hot, pent up tears fall soundlessly.

As she held her father tightly in her arms, Melena remembered the many times that he had done this for her. He had just sat, and without complaint, he held her tightly, letting her cry to sleep. Regardless of how upset he was, he had always been patient with her. She knew that he had been through much. What exactly he had been through was something she could never figure out and something both her parents had refused to talk about, but now, she knew that when her father was lost in his thoughts and got that faraway look, it meant that he was reminiscing about his painful past. She squeezed him tighter, knowing that this admission was hard for him.

"Everything's going to be fine," she whispered as she felt tears forming in her own eyes. Neither said anything, but they both knew that she was right.


	4. Some Things Never Change

**Some Things Never Change**

Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate: Atlantis. I don't own the characters of the Atlantis universe. Blah, blah, blah. You get the drift.

Author's Notes: Again, a big thanks to all those who reviewed! For all you Shep fans, here's your dose!

* * *

"So, you and Rosetta, huh?" asked Sheppard as he led his son, Joseph, to his quarters.

"Yeah," said Joseph as he walked in step with a younger version of his father.

"Huh. I never thought that my son would be getting married to McKay's daughter…or the fact that McKay even had a daughter," said John as he continued to walk down the corridor.

"Guess life's just full of surprises," said Joseph with a wry smile.

"So…how many kids?" asked Sheppard.

"What?" asked Joseph as he stopped to look at his hip and cool father. He had always wondered what his father was like when he was younger, and to be honest, he hadn't really changed much. Maybe he was slightly more bitter when he was older, but that was understandable after what happened. Other than that, his father was pretty much the same, and Joseph loved the fact that he could treat both the past and future versions of his father the same. He knew that the others weren't as lucky as he was.

"How many kids?"

"Oh," said Joseph as he continued walking along, "you and Mom had four sons. I'm the fourth. There's your first son, John Sheppard Jr. He's like you. Fighter pilot and stuff. He was supposed to be the chief military officer, but he declined it."

"Ah," said John as he nodded his head in understanding. He twirled his hand in a circling motion.

"Continue."

"There's Daniel Sheppard, who's the head diplomat of Atlantis. Mom's still the leader, so Daniel's just helping her out and stuff. Learning the ropes. Then, there's Chase Sheppard, who's one of the doctors at the infirmary."

"A doctor?" asked John as he stared at Joseph questioningly.

"Yeah. He was pretty close to Uncle Carson, so he decided to follow Carson's footsteps."

"Ah," nodded John, "Carson's a good man."

"Yeah, he is," said Joseph.

"And how did you…uh…?"

"Get engaged to Uncle Rodney's daughter?" asked Joseph with a smile. He knew that that fact bothered his dad.

"Yeah," said John with a wince.

"Nearly wasn't going to. I was going to marry Zelenka's daughter, Harriet, but things didn't work out for both of us. We're still good friends, just not…you know."

"Uh, huh," said John. Joseph noticed the bewildered look on John's face, and he smiled, knowing exactly what was going through his father's mind.

"I know what you're thinking, but Rosetta's pretty different from her father."

Joseph felt his throat close up on him. It'd been since he'd had to think about it, and before he could stop himself, he'd said the words that were on his mind.

"Guess it had to do with his death."

"What?!" exclaimed John as he turned to Joseph. He looked to see if his son was playing a trick on him, but the painful look in his eyes told him it was anything but. Joseph quickly masked the pain, though, and looked away from his father.

"Yeah. It was tough on all of us. Even Uncle Ronon had a hard time adjusting after that."

Silence stretched between the two as the future Sheppard recalled painful memories, and the elder Sheppard absorbed this new piece of info. They continued to walk towards Joseph's quarters and stopped in front of it.

"Well," said John as they stood in front of Joseph's temporary quarters, "welcome back home."

John was about to turn around when his son called out.

"Dad."

John turned to see his son looking at him with steely eyes. There was no ill will behind them, just a sense of determination…and understanding.

"Don't blame yourself for something that hasn't happened yet. The future you did all that you could to save him."

John looked back at Joseph with the same, steely eyes.

"You did the same. Don't be so hard on yourself either."

Joseph's eyes turned into wide emerald orbs of surprise.

"How'd-?"

John smirked.

"Hey, talking to a Mensa genius here. I catch on fast."

Joseph smirked back. John's smile faded a little at seeing his son's bitter expression, and he turned to face his son in full seriousness. He clasped a hand on his son's shoulder and squeezed tightly.

"Whatever happened out there, Joseph, I'm pretty sure that you did what you could. Don't take it so hard. I know it's a Sheppard thing."

John was happy to see Joseph chuckle a little at that. He didn't know whether Joseph's brothers felt the same guilt, but John knew that Joseph had taken Rodney's death hard. John felt the same when it came to all of his friends; he felt responsible for their welfare; from what he could tell, Joseph believed and felt the same. Realizing what Rodney's death meant to Joseph, John clasped his hand tighter on Joseph's shoulder.

"But there are things that you can't control. You have to know that no matter what, you did your best, and that's all that anyone can ask of you."

Joseph nodded solemnly, and John returned the gesture with a nod of his own. He let go of Joseph's shoulder and turned to leave.

"Dinner's at 7."

"I know," said Joseph.

Joseph saw his father give another quick, understanding nod and leave. For a second, Joseph stood there, taking in his father's words of wisdom. With a mental smile, Joseph turned and walked into his quarters, realizing that it was good to know that some things never changed.


End file.
